Not all that long ago, Matt Simms wasn’t sure if he’d ever find his way back onto a professional football field.

The former Don Bosco quarterback didn’t get an invite to a NFL training camp last fall for the first time in his career.

“In the past two years. I’ve probably had close to 10 workouts,” Simms told USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey this week. “And I feel like at all the workouts I just crushed it and did so well and just really didn’t understand why I was being let out of the building every time I worked out.”

At 30 years old, Simms didn’t see a clear way forward. But now he has one.

This is usually a dead time for football, and especially veteran players who are looking for a roster spot. But for the next 10 weeks, eight AAF teams, mostly in warm-weather cities, will provide a job and football proving ground.

Simms, who played four games for the Jets in 2013 and 2014 and saw preseason action with the Buffalo Bills (2016) and Atlanta Falcons (2017), is hoping that the new league will give him the chance to prove he’s still worthy of a spot on a NFL roster.

And Simms believes he’s already showing that.

Matt Simms during his days as the Don Bosco quarterback.(Photo11: Danielle P. Richards/NorthJersey.com file)

“That’s definitely the main goal," he said. “Even with the way that I performed in camp, I’ve just heard through intermediaries that they really have been impressed with what I’ve shown. My leadership of the team, the physical capabilities, the plays that I’ve made in little intra-squad scrimmages against other teams.

“So I know already that there are rumblings of interest in me. And now it’s just to kind of continue those and hopefully try to build some more interest as well as we go."

The AAF season beginning this weekend will provide Simms with a genuine chance to build that interest.

Simms, who was selected by Atlanta in the second round of the league’s quarterback draft in November, entered with an open mind.

“I think I did a good job of not really putting certain expectations to the league or what it was supposed to be like,” he said. “I really looked at it as ‘Hey, I’m getting an opportunity to play football. I’m getting the opportunity to continue the evaluation process, to show people that I’m relevant, to show people I’m still talented enough to play at a high level.’

And really just kind of approached it that way, with an open mind and an open heart and just going with the ebbs and flows of the startup and not always knowing exactly what’s going on, but just kind of adapting and having fun with it.”

There has been uncertainty. Brad Childress, the former Minnesota Vikings’ coach, resigned without giving a reason in January, exactly a month before the first game. Michael Vick, the former Falcons and Jets quarterback, was slated to be the team’s offensive coordinator until this week, when it was announced he won’t serve in that role.

But even if it has been a bit of a roller coaster, Simms has enjoyed his first months in the AAF.

“It’s been a really cool experience just to kind of be back into the grind of preparing,” he said. “And working with others and making sure everybody’s on the same page and really just competing and trying to better yourself every day, as a player, as a teammate and as a person. I’m just really fortunate to have the opportunity, and it’s been really enjoyable, with its highs and its lows.”

As recently as this fall, Simms didn’t know if there would ever be that interest again. So he and his father, former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, began a project working together to develop young quarterbacks in the area. The project, Simms Complete QB, is based out of Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn.

“It really kind of manifested out of ‘Am I going to play again?’” Simms said. “Since I wasn’t sure that it was going to happen, I thought the best thing for me to do was — all right, I have all these lessons that I’ve learned from my father and my brother and from my own experience, and I was just like hey, might as well just use these talents and these abilities and share and pass this along to the future generations.”

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It was a busy fall for Simms, who balanced developing several young quarterbacks with keeping his own skills and body sharp enough to be ready for any opportunities that might present themselves — in September, he rushed from a practice session with a young quarterback to the airport so that he could work out with the San Francisco 49ers.

New York Jets quarterback Matt Simms looking for receiver during a preseason game against the New York Giants on Aug. 22, 2014(Photo11: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com)

Now, Simms has turned his attention to the next 10 weeks and a tryout that he hopes will help him land an NFL roster spot.

Simms achieved his first AAF goal earlier this week, when he was named the Legends’ starting quarterback — beating out Aaron Murray, the former Georgia and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who was selected second overall in the draft.

So what’s next?

“Go out and play well,” Simms said.

“And enjoy playing this game with other guys who are in the same boat as me, just trying to prolong their careers. In some cases make the AAF their last stop, and in some cases, like myself and many others, use the AAF as kind of a springboard back into the NFL.”